Conservational notes
Alan Millar (message on algae-l, 7 March 2001) wrote: [This alga] was first discovered in 1855 by W.H.Harvey from the shallows of Spectacle Island, Sydney Harbour. It was recollected (lots of specimens now filed in NSW) in 1886 by Dr Ramsay, the then director of the Australian Museum, after a request from Baron Ferdinand von Muller (then Director of the Botanic Gardens in Melbourne) who wished to study it further. In 1916, Arthur Lucas failed to find it in the harbour and many extensive searches using SCUBA by myself have failed to find it over the last 13 years.
On Christmas eve, 2000, the alga was listed as a "species presumed extinct" by an Act of the NSW Parliament on the schedules of the Fisheries Management Act 1994 of NSW. It has since been nominated for listing on the Australian National schedules.
At this stage, the IUCN cannot recognise the alga as extinct as there is no Specialist Group (SG) for marine algae that they have sanctioned. In short, if we are to ever have an alga listed on the IUCN Red lists, then we need to set up a SG. I am more than willing to co-ordinate such an international group and continue my liason with the IUCN to achieve this goal.
This story is a paper I submitted to the proceedings of the XVII ISS in Cape Town, South Africa.

According to the IUCN Website (23 August 2007 "Bennett's Seaweed" (Vanvoorstia bennettiana) is the only species of red algae on the 2003 IUCN Red List and is listed as Extinct. This Australian species has only ever been collected from two sites. No specimens have been seen or collected over the last 116 years, despite numerous collections made by algologists during that period. Habitat loss through human activities (trawling, dredging, infrastructure development, human settlement, tourism/recreation, water transportation, fisheries-related bycatch, and water pollution from agriculture, domestic, commercial/ industrial, oil, sedimentation and sewage) caused the extinction of this species." - (23 Aug 2007) - Wendy Guiry